Dark Skies
Research has shown that stargazing activities are a great way to help boost tourism all year round, by extending the visitor season and encouraging overnight stays.
The rising popularity of ‘dark skies’ tourism enables visitors to explore the Lake District, Cumbria in a new and immersive way. It also fits perfectly with people’s renewed desire to enhance their health and wellbeing, discover the outdoors and get closer to nature.
How businesses can get involved:
To help you promote the county as the perfect place to stargaze, the Cumbria Tourism team has developed a free self-accreditation scheme and toolkit where you can register yourself as a ‘dark skies’ friendly’ business. Once completed, you can use the dark sky friendly logo in all of your own marketing.
You can market stargazing packages, events and activities on the Dark Skies page on visitlakedistrict.com.
The ‘what’s on’ pages of our visitor-facing website are some of the most popular sections for online traffic and it’s easy to submit your future stargazing events for free.
If you’re an accommodation provider, shout about opportunities to view Cumbria’s dark skies from your doorstep or develop unique stargazing break packages. Many Cumbrian businesses are offering bookable stargazing packages in the winter months. Include telescopes, night-sky maps, waterproof rugs and hot drinks for the ultimate stargazing experience.
Keep an eye on our membership channels for more details about the next Cumbria Dark Skies Festival. Each event offers a star-studded events programme bringing everyone from complete beginners to seasoned stargazers together with outdoor art, adventure and astronomy experts to celebrate Cumbria’s magical stargazing opportunities.
We have generated high-profile coverage for recent events and our destination PR and content team continues to use dark skies as a catalyst to inspire national media interest in the Lake District, Cumbria.
Cumbria Dark Skies Festival 2023
Taking place 28 October – 18 November 2023, the Cumbria Dark Skies Festival will celebrate the county’s fantastic stargazing opportunities through an exciting calendar of activities and we are looking for events right across the county to feature in the festival calendar.
Get In Touch
Keep sharing your dark skies activities, events and packages throughout the year on: campaigns@cumbriatourism.org